Circus History
„Step right up!“ – „Let the show begin“
Circus is a magical place where every child and every adult travels into a world of imagination and illusion. When the show begins and everything goes dark, you just don’t know what will happen, but in the next second the stage will light up and the big tent is filled with dazzling colored lights. The father of the modern circus is Philip Astley who established permanent and traveling circuses in Britain and Europe in the late 18th century. Astley also brought trick horse riding to the circus. Americans P. T. Barnum and William Cameron Coup brought the freakshow to the circus when they launched P. T. Barnum’s Museum, Menagerie & Circus, which included an exhibition of animal and human oddities. Coup was also the first to use circus trains for transport of people, animals, and equipment. In 1919, Lenin, head of the USSR, expressed a wish for the circus to become ‚the people’s art-form‘, with facilities and status on a par with theatre, opera and ballet. Circuses from China, drawing on Chinese traditions of acrobatics, like the Chinese State Circus are also popular touring acts. The International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo has been held in Monte Carlo since 1974 and was the first of many international awards for circus performers.
Specifications
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Mintage:
Fiji
2013
1 Dollar
Copper, Silver plated
digital 5C printing with glossy coating
38.61mm
20 grams
Proof Like (PL)
1,500 coins
Obverse
Images
Art. No.: 1142/1
Art. No.: 1142/2
Art. No.: 1142/3
Art. No.: 1142/4
Set Art. No.: 1142